Modern firearms, in particular, military assault rifles, can be deployed for a number of combat missions such as sniper weapons and in close combat. They are commonly used for nighttime combat. These applications can require fitting a variety of telescopic sites, infrared sites, tactical lights, laser sighting modules, grenade launchers, bipods and other accessories to the firearm. For mounting purposes, standardized mounting platforms have been developed. One such platform is known as a Picatinny rail, which is a standardized mounting rail. The standard was first published by the Picatinny Arsenal and carries the official title MIL-STD-1913. It is also known by a NATO designation STANAG 2324. The Picatinny rail is a cross-section shaped roughly like a wide T with the top of the T corresponding to the top of the rail. The rail has a number of evenly spaced transverse slots in the top spanning the width of the T-shaped cross-section. The Picatinny rail the transverse slots or “locking slots” have a standard width of 0.206 inch (5.2324 mm) and the spacing of the slot centers is 0.394 inch (10.0076 mm) with a slot depth of 0.118 inch (2.9972 mm).
Such rails are often placed directly on the weapon's receiver, in the position normally occupied by the rear sights. The rail may also extend over rifle hand guards associated with the rifle barrel. Mounting rails such as Picatinny rails were originally used for telescopic sights and were originally found only on larger caliber rifles. With the prevalence of night vision devices, they started to appear on smaller assault rifles as well, to the point today where they are displacing iron sights used on older weapons and now sights are provided that can be mounted on the rails. In addition to top mounting rails, firearms may now include rails fastened to guns in various locations. In some cases, grips are surrounded with top, bottom and side rails. Mounting rails are also appearing on shotguns and pistols.
While the mounting rails have obvious utilitarian benefits, they are not without some shortcomings. Most notably, they can be uncomfortable when grasped by a user's hands and may under certain field conditions become clogged with dirt and other debris that make it difficult to install one of the many accessories receivable on the rails. To address these problems, a number of rail covers have been developed. One form of rail cover is designed to embrace the top of the T and be slid onto the rail lengthwise. Among the problems with such a rail cover is it can be difficult to slide onto longer rails due to the inherent friction. In addition, if there is debris lodged in the rail slots this can interfere with sliding this type of rail cover on. While in many instances such rail covers can be cut to a select length, this is an extra step making such rail covers more incontinent to use. Finally, such rail covers are typically formed as a single elongate piece of only one color, which is not optimum for a camouflage effect.
Flexible mounted panels generally work better than the slide-on type since they do not have to slide down the entire length of rail. Instead they are mounted by engaging one end of the flexible panel over an end of the T and then engaging the other end of the panel with the other end of the T. One advantage of this form of mounting is that sights and lasers which require precise alignment do not have to be removed and recalibrated when reconfiguring modular weapons and panels. Additionally, they can be more easily customized for length to fit specific areas of rail which need protection or are useful for grasping. However, since flexibly-mounted panels are somewhat pliable, they can be affected negatively by temperature extremes. In elevated temperatures such as desert warfare conditions, flexible panels may become too soft to be effectively retained by the rail. That is, they may shift or fall off under heavy operational use. This problem is exacerbated when flexible panels are cut to shorter custom lengths. Lowered temperatures can cause stiffness and brittleness which may not allow panels to be effectively mounted or removed without damage.
The modular rail cover panel for a firearm disclosed and claimed herein is intended to overcome one or more of the problems discussed above.